Stand With RedFawn

The Red Fawn Support Committee exists to promote justice for Red Fawn by advancing and facilitating the activities of her supporters worldwide. We do this by keeping you updated about Red Fawn's legal case, her situation, and the most effective ways to provide the support she needs to overcome and emerge victorious over the challenges placed in her path.

August 6, 2018

After short stays at Stutsman County Correctional Center (Jamestown ND) and the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, Red Fawn has arrived at FMC Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas. This is apparently where she will be incarcerated, at least for a while.

Red Fawn, ever strong and courageous, has assured those she's spoken with that she is doing ok despite all the ordeals facing her.

We know you love Red Fawn and want to support her in any way you can. In the near future we'll provide more information on different ways you can do this while she's at FMC Carswell.

Meanwhile, remember that Red Fawn always asks you to send up your prayers. And also remember that your greetings--reminding her that you love her and are thinking of her--are what will encourage and sustain her, both now and throughout her incarceration.

Here's where to write to her:------------------------------------

RedFawn Fallis

#16358-059

FMC Carswell

P.O.Box 27137

Ft. Worth TX 76127---------------------------------

In solidarity,

The Standing With Red Fawn Support Committee

"I stand in peace in prayer and in solidarity with our relatives through every struggle. Remember the strength and the lives of our ancestors, they suffered way more for the right to pray to speak our languages and to simply eat and sustain our lives as well as their families lives.

July 24, 2018

Growing up in Colorado and Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Red Fawn was raised in traditional Lakota ways, grounded with love and a deep connection to the earth and all things sacred. Her mother, Troy Lynn Yellow Wood, taught her the importance of fighting for social and environmental justice, and standing up for her people. Red Fawn is a loving daughter, auntie, niece and friend. While at Standing Rock, she served as a trained medic, continually rescuing and caring for her fellow Water Protectors. She also earned the deep love and respect of the Indigenous youth in the camps, who looked up to her as an example and mentor.

Red Fawn wearing Water Protector skirt at a rally at North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, 2016.

When the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), owned by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), occupied 1851 Fort Laramie treaty territory of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Sacred Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation) in order to put a crude oil pipeline under the Mni Sose (Missouri River), Red Fawn was quick to respond. She joined other Lakota people who were gathering together to assert their treaty rights and protect the source of precious drinking water for themselves and for 16 million people downstream. Standing with her for the rights of Indigenous people and our Mother Earth at Standing Rock were many thousands of people from around the world, including representatives of over 300 sovereign Indigenous nations.

Red Fawn was one of over 140 Water Protectors arrested at Standing Rock on Oct 27, 2016, while peacefully exercising their first amendment right to oppose construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on treaty-protected land. But she was one of only a handful of people who received serious federal charges.

Bystander and drone videos of her arrest show a Pennington County Sheriff’s Deputy, Thadius Schmit, singling her out from among a crowd of protesters, tackling her from behind, and taking her down to the ground, followed by at least eight other heavily armed law enforcement officials piling on top of her. Shots erupted from the melee, and Red Fawn was arrested and charged by North Dakota with attempted murder of police officers. Those charges were later dropped and replaced with federal charges, including civil disorder, discharge of a weapon in relation to a felony crime of violence, and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. In the arrest affidavit, Schmit said he arrested Red Fawn for “being an instigator and acting disorderly” and in a hearing described this behavior as shouting “water is life and you’re killing Mother Earth and stuff of that nature.”

As reported by the publications the Intercept and the High Plains Reader, leaked documents have revealed that Red Fawn had been targeted for surveillance and possible arrest by a sprawling intelligence operation that included ETP, TigerSwan and other private mercenary firms hired by them, the FBI, and various levels of law enforcement--all conspiring to discredit and derail the growing resistance to the pipeline.

Leaked documents also revealed that the gun Red Fawn was accused of firing belonged to Heath Harmon, an FBI informant who had infiltrated her camp and managed to become her romantic partner--and who had been with her throughout the day she was arrested.

A recent Intercept article helps explain the factors which convinced Red Fawn to take the plea. Based on several pretrial motions denied by the judge who would have tried the case, Red Fawn and her attorneys became convinced her case would not be fairly presented at trial. Among these rulings: they could not argue that the law enforcement operation on Standing Rock land was illegal based on treaty rights. The government did not have to turn over information about Harmon or other covert operatives involved in the case. Nor did they have to address the legality of law enforcement’s close collaboration with TigerSwan, a private security firm hired to protect the pipeline.

RedFawn Fallis

One heart One mind One prayer...

Mni Wiconi

WE ARE REDFAWN!

How To Help:

Hello dear friend of Red Fawn!

We are writing to you because you have demonstrated your love and solidarity with our brave sister, auntie, friend and relative Red Fawn Fallis in the past--by hosting or attending fundraising/honoring events, donating auction items, writing to her, providing financial support, and in so many other important ways. Today we want to update you on Red Fawn’s case, let you know how she’s doing, and suggest some actions you can take now to continue to STAND WITH RED FAWN, particularly in the days leading up to her sentencing hearing in Bismarck, North Dakota on June 25, 2018.

As you probably know, Red Fawn was arrested at Standing Rock, North Dakota on October 27, 2016 as she stood peacefully and prayerfully with thousands of others to defend the rights of her people, our Mother Earth, and all things sacred. Initial state charges were replaced by three federal charges, including serious felony gun charges. Based on these charges, Red Fawn has now been incarcerated in North Dakota jails for over 18 months. During this time, much was revealed about the tactics of the corporate and government forces which had targeted Red Fawn and were working collaboratively against her and other Standing Rock Water Resisters--forces which included pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners, its private security force TigerSwan, the FBI, the State of North Dakota, and many law enforcement agencies in North Dakota and nationwide. (Astonishingly, FBI tactics included hiring an undercover informant to become her lover!) (See the Intercept and High Plains Reader articles at the end of this letter.)

In January, 2018, feeling pressed into a corner by these efforts and facing the possibility of life in prison following a trial in which she did not believe justice would prevail, Red Fawn reluctantly entered into a plea agreement. Through this agreement, the most serious charge was dropped and her sentence was capped at no more than ten years, with the prosecution recommending seven years.

For those who may question Red Fawn’s decision to take a plea rather than go to trial, it is important to understand, not only her individual case, but also the extent to which her case exemplifies a system which is aligned against criminal defendants. The article, Why Innocent People Go to Jail, by Jed S. Rakoff (listed at the end of this letter), provides the context we need to begin to fathom the profound injustices embedded in our current “criminal justice” system--a system in which, in 2013, 97% of all federal criminal charges were resolved through plea bargains.

RedFawn Fallis

At Red Fawn’s sentencing hearing, North Dakota District Chief Judge Daniel Hovland will hear testimony from both sides. It’s likely, but not certain, that her sentence will be handed down at this time. Through all her long ordeal and incarceration, Red Fawn has remained heart-strong, patient, and steadfast about the justness of her cause. As you can imagine, though, her anxiety level is very high as she approaches the day when such an important decision about her future will be made. We know you want her to feel your presence, love, and solidarity today, on May 31st, and throughout whatever follows. Here are some things you might do to STAND WITH RED FAWN.

Send love and prayers to Red Fawn during her sentencing hearing.

This hearing will take place starting at 9am on May 31st at the Federal Courthouse, 220 E Rosser Avenue, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

While Red Fawn would greatly appreciate people to be at her hearing, she understands that, for most of us, traveling all the way to North Dakota for this one-day event is beyond our reach. Also, her family and closest friends will of course receive priority seating in the small courtroom. So others who come take the risk of being seated in an overflow room, or without any access to the hearing at all. So, if traveling to the hearing isn’t feasible for you, be with her in spirit by sending her your prayers and love on this day. Also give strong consideration to the other important ways you can lend your support.

Send a letter of support which will positively influence the judge’s sentencing decision.

Do you know Red Fawn well enough to give specific examples of how she has demonstrated such positive qualities as integrity, trustworthiness and peacefulness in her past actions? If so, please consider writing a letter vouching for Red Fawn’s good character and reputation. Such a letter can go a long way toward encouraging the judge to make a sentencing decision that is helpful to Red Fawn. Guidelines for writing a support letter are attached.

If you are in a position to write such a letter, make sure to send it to the attorneys representing Red Fawn, and NOT to the judge. Her legal team will decide which letters to give the judge, based on their helpfulness to her case. Also, be sure to talk only about her positive character, as demonstrated by her actions in the past. DO NOT discuss the facts of the case, and DO NOT include political arguments, slogans or messages. Such letters will not help her case and could significantly HARM her. Also remember that her hearing is coming up soon, so be sure to write and send your letter today!

Send her messages of support. Red Fawn is so grateful for all the cards and letters that you have sent her, and always says that she couldn’t have gotten this far without you. At this time it’s so important that we help Red Fawn stand strong by letting her know that we are there for her! Send letters and cards expressing your love and support to:

As of August 5, 2018

And here's where to send cards and letters to Red Fawn. Remember that your greetings--reminding her that you love her, and that she is in your thoughts and prayers--are what will encourage and sustain her, both now and throughout her incarceration.

Through your generosity at past fundraisers, a small amount of funds are available to help Red Fawn with her personal needs while incarcerated, both at her current location and once she enters prison. But we know she’ll need your continued financial support in the future. So please consider taking the money that you would have spent on a trip to Bismarck, and using it to help cover Red Fawn’s personal needs once she enters prison. For up-to-date information on how to donate to Red Fawn’s fund, go to the new Red Fawn website, https://www.standwithredfawn.org/donate/(Donation information will be available soon!)

Pray for Red Fawn-- and water protectors all over the world.

The strength of prayer is sacred to Red Fawn and her family. “Even if you don’t believe in prayer,” says Red Fawn’s uncle Glenn “you could just give it a try.” In Red Fawn’s words, “Each and every prayer, and every energy, and every time someone sends up smoke, I feel it, and I’m thankful and I’m grateful.”

Stay informed about Red Fawn’s case and related matters.

Visit the new website https://www.standwithredfawn.org. In particular, read the beautiful letter which Red Fawn wrote and which was read at the United Nations in April.

Read books and articles which educate you about the issues that relate to Red Fawn’s case, including the prison industrial complex, the history of colonialism, U.S. federal Indian law and policy, and the stories of other political prisoners. For starters:

Books

*Blood of the Land: The Government and Corporate War against the American Indian Movement, by Rex Weyler (Vintage Books, 1984)

*Agents of Repression, the FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement, by Ward Churchill (South End Press, 1990)

*The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (The New Press, 2012)

Here's important information -- from the Free RedFawn Facebook page -- about how to re-send donations that may have been returned to you -- and how to donate NOW to help pay for expert witnesses and other things needed to ensure that Red Fawn's beautiful, true strong self is seen by the judge at her sentencing hearing on June 25th!

"Hello Family. We have some bad news to report. Just as we were accessing the funds that were donated for Red Fawn’s legal defense, we were informed that Generosity returned all donated funds back to the original donors.

This is a $44,000 setback that has come at a time when Red Fawn is preparing for her sentencing on June 25th, and the legal team is trying to hire more experts. We have done everything we can to have the funds returned but, Generosity has told us that there is nothing they can do.If any of you reading this have had your contributions returned, you can visit this link to give to the legal fund directly.

We have set up two new sites to try and help meet this goal. If you donated please verify that you have returned funds. This last year has had so many trials in raising monies.

This is being managed by Arrow Banks (for Red Fawn) if you have any questions or concerns. These two links will go directly to her legal fund. The old one website is no longer linked to her legal fund.

If you know someone who wants to donate to a good cause please let them know. I do not know wealthy people but maybe you do. 😊 If they want to talk to me or have any questions please direct them to me. Please have them inbox me stating they have questions regarding donations.

We have exactly 3 weeks and less then that to pay for what is needed. I know that GoFundMe taxes donations so I choose a goal which was higher. If anyone has any public events can you please share the following links.

Letter from RedFawn to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

April 16, 2018

Red Fawn Fallis is an Oglala Lakota activist who was arrested at Standing Rock on charges of firing a gun and faced life in prison. After spending over a year in jail awaiting trial, she has accepted a plea bargain and now faces up to ten years in federal prison. Under the terms of the agreement, Red Fawn pleaded guilty to two charges, while the third charge, which carries the most serious penalty, has been dropped. 38-year-old Red Fawn says that she has chosen to spend the next few years healing and moving forward rather than risk life in prison or decades of appeals. Red Fawn and her supporters believe that due to a system of injustice, extreme racism against indigenous people, and mass incarceration, she could not get a fair trial in Fargo, North Dakota.

Letter from RedFawn to the 17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

Hello relatives, my name is Red Fawn I am a Oglala of the Lakota people from Pine Ridge South Dakota. My Ina (my mother) TroyLynn YellowWood a Oglala, Shaheila, raised me in Denver Colorado since I was an infant. Pila'miye 'thank you' for the opportunity to share some words today, I was honored and humbled when I was asked to write something to be read on my behalf. I would like to share some teachings from my Ina (mother) and my Unci (grandmother), they have both passed on but continue to give me strength and courage to keep on the good path the red road, meaning to remain in prayer, to help the people, to be humble, and to always honor our relationship to mother earth, to the water, to one another, to life and all the livings things. I went to Standing Rock in august 2016, with love and understanding that we should always do whatever we can to protect all things sacred. Our youth started the Mni Wiconi prayer to protect Mni Sosa the Missouri river and our sacred territories from the black snake otherwise known as the Dakota Access pipeline. We came from all around the world, from all nations, to join the prayer, we found something bigger than life, a spiritual fire we will carry with us til the end of time. We found a way to honor our relations with one another, with the land and the water. We answered our ancestors prayers and honored their teachings. I was raised being taught these traditional and spiritual values by my grandmother, my mother and other women in my family. My grandmother, my mom, my oldest sister, my oldest niece and her first born son were the beginnings of the 5 living generations in my family until march of 2016 when my grandmother passed on and then in June 2016 when my mother passed on, which left our family without the two pillars of love, strength, honor, spirituality and humility. They were both story tellers, that was how they passed on the wisdom they gained throughout life. My grandmother spoke Lakota and taught us how to bead and sew our traditional clothing, she taught us Lakota songs; her greatest teachings were of humility, selflessness, laughter, dancing and always honoring our relations. My mother taught who were are and where we come from by teaching us spirituality, through prayer with the Canupa, the sacred Lakota ceremonies, by taking us with her while she sun danced. We grew up going to sweatlodge and many other traditional ceremonies. She taught us the songs, how to do things in a respectful manner. She taught us to stand up for our beliefs and for our people with a strong heart, in peace and in prayer. Her greatest teaching was her life, the way she lived. She walked the red road she was a pipe carrier, she lived in sobriety and believed in our sovereignty as Shaheila and Oglala Lakota people. She stood on the frontlines in solidarity with all nations, in peace and prayer for the struggles of the people. She taught us these things by example since young adulthood to the last months of her life. She was always helping everyone in every way she could, these are the teachings she passed down to her children as well as many many others around the world. I am thankful for these teachings, they carry me through the hard times in life.. She taught us resilience and strength. I am proud of all our brothers and sisters who stand up against the injustices being committed all around the world that are killing our people, contaminating that land and water, robbing our future generations of these gifts from creator that are here to sustain life one generation to the next.

I ask, what must we do to be a good caretaker of this land, to be a good relative, to protect all things sacred, to ensure that our future generations carry love, strength, compassion and the knowledge of how to care for the earth, for each other, and for their future generations? It's important as first nation indigenous people, as protectors, that we no longer be idle, we must honor these teachings. We have a steady growing unknown number of missing and murdered women, children, and men. I am honored to know that so many strong heart relatives are out the speaking up and carrying the names of our missing and murdered loved ones. My prayers and strength go out to all who are bearing this pain. We have a suicide epidemic amongst our people, especially our youth this is heartbreaking so we must reach out any way we can to offer support and encouragement to our relatives who are hurting and suffering. We are resilient, we come from strong heart people and we have the ability to save one another. Remember our elders they are the keepers of the wisdom. Build relationships with them. Our traditions and spirituality are our instructions, they come from our ancestors who endured and survived the invasion of these land and 500 years of genocide. I have been incarcerated since Oct. 27, 2016 after being arrested on the frontlines on hwy 1806 north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. It has been a long hard journey with important lessons in compassion, humility, and respect. With prayer, as well as the support of so many I am able to remember my grandmother and mothers teachings and i remain strong and grateful. I am humbled and have respect for this life.

Thank you for listening, thank you for your strong heart and your understanding of these ways of life. I stand in peace in prayer and in solidarity with our relatives through every struggle. Remember the strength and the lives of our ancestors, they suffered way more for the right to pray to speak our languages and to simply eat and sustain our lives as well as their families lives.

Opening of 17th Session of UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Tadodaho Sid Hill (right), Chief of the Onondaga Nation, delivers the ceremonial welcome at the opening of the seventeenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

This year's forum centers on the theme: “Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources”.

Participants of the seventeenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues speak at the opening.

General view of the opening of the seventeenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. This year's forum centres on the theme: “Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources”.